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Beat the Streak Report: Wednesday, June 23

And the beat goes on for Dick George.

Our unflappable leader shined through the stardom and successfully
broke the will of the Beat the Streak paparazzi after selecting
Robinson Cano for the second straight day to extend his streak to a
season-high 39 games.

George is now officially 68.4 percent on his way to the
$3,000,000 grand prize and a lifelong supply of Applebee’s steak tips.
What’s better than a steak tip? Nothing is the only correct answer.

Anyway, our streaks of the day don’t end there, as the guys who
actually are on the field — ya know, real-life Major Leaguers — kept
their impressive streaks alive as Josh Hamilton and Jose Guillen each
laced hits last night to extend their respective streaks and tie Cano
and Jorge Cantu with season-high 17-game streaks of their own.

All we need now is for Dick George to select Hamilton tonight
and watch the entire world self-combust into the abyss the exact moment
Hamilton gets his first hit, simultaneously extending the season-high
streaks of both these courageous leaders.

And as a side note, I’d like to take this time and acknowledge
my incredible blunder in somehow forgetting to mention how the Yankees’
Monday night loss to the D-backs completely obliterated the streaks of
about 72 percent of our Survivor participants.

This will forever be known as the Survivor Massacre of ’10 and I have no idea how this slipped under the cracks.

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46 Comments

That?s right?72.9% of the world collapsed on Monday night?.Glad I wasn?t in it :-) (thank you Reds). My world collapse in BTS yesterday however, when my modest 7 games streak disappeared, courtesy of Kouzmanoff?11 for 16 vs Arroyo and he can?t even squeeze one little hit the whole game ?.MERDE!!!! First I had Delmon Young but I changed at the last minute for a ?sure? pick; of course Young got him 2 hits last night. Now that?s just real harsh! I should have listened that little voice in my head ?don?t go with Kouz, anyone but him!?; instead I chose to trust the stats despite the fact that Kevin burned me once already. Got fooled twice…shame on me.

Yep, excitement on the leader board again; been awhile.
Once the two leaders’ picks are known, BTS enthusiasts will be finger-crossed, hexing, and willing those picks to get pop outs, strkeouts, walks & reaching via errors.
Listening to or watching the game live is not bad, but a little less gut-wrenching. If you want to add to the suspense even more, follow their picks via MLB’s GameDay. Each time a ball is put into play you get that little blue circle that says, “in play outs”, “in play no out”, “in play runs” and then you have a second or two before the details are displayed. When “in play no out”, are you begging, “error, error!” If “in play runs” and man on third, are you pleading, “sac fly, sac fly”? Afterwards, I may be cursing under my breath if a hit was recorded or doing the funky chicken if not, but ahhhhh, I absolutely love those few seconds!

And what about from the leaders’ point of view.
You know how when we have a good streak going, we agonize and analyze over our picks, sometimes, changing them over & over again right up to lockout? How vexing must it be for the leaders? Knowing the whole BTS world will give you a “congrats, job well done” if you fail, while simultaneously rejoicing to your failure. But that isn’t the kicker, the kicker is you lost your best shot at $3million.
What about during the game? The leaders if they watch/listen, must have their heart skip at the moment of ball-to-bat contact. If they 2nd guessed themselves during the picks, what must be going thru their heads each time their pick fails to reach base: “should I have, could I have?”
Then if their pick gets a hit, it must be like a mini-high, only to realize you gotta do it all over again and again. Wish I could be in that position too!

The above comments can pertain to all of us, but there is one big difference: most of us are a month or more away from being there; while dick.george and company are just two weeks away from a truly, life-changing, pay out.

Anyone else anxiously awaiting lockout to see who the leaders picked? If you are, you are hopelessly hooked like me.
Recipe for success? The leader, on June 1st, was tied for 116th place. During the past 3 weeks, he has leaned heavily on high-average hitters: Cano 8x, Prado 4x, Ichiro & Pujols 2x, along with Morneau, Mauer, Ordonez, M.Cabrera & Rios one time each. So who tonite? Cano 3x in a row or Ichiro, Pujols or someone else? My guess is we will be waiting long into the night to see if his streak continues.

@btsplayer: I expect leader to pick Pujols or Prado tomorrow. A majority of his streak comprises of just 5 players. He has never picked a Fish yet and only has picked one player batting below 300; that would be out of his comfort zone.

@btsplayer: Well, here’s hoping Ichiro goes 0-2 and tomorrow’s pick-watch is for a new leader. Otherwise, the stats I just gave are relative to his current streak when he hit the Top2500. I don’t have his complete history. If I were in his shoes, I think I’d be tempted to stay with what got me to that point and not go outside the box. Kind of: don’t fix it, if it ain’t broke. It just sucks when it finally breaks.

Okay. So Miguel Cairo came through. I don’t know if it was a product of Mazzaro facing good No. 2 hitters or what but they were 11-16 (.688) against him. I thought Phillips would be batting 2nd again so I was intially going with him until I saw Cairo playing for Rolen & batting 2nd.

@champ88. w/Votto, maybe. One & maybe 2 ABs left.
I don’t understand the Ibanez love though. He’s been batting 235 over last 10 days, 8 for 34, 4 0-fers, 8 strikeouts & 5 walks. Add to that he bats low in the lineup & at home: run don’t walk away from that pick. His lifetime 700 against then pitcher is the turn-on I’m sure, but how much faith does one put into stats compiled over a year ago? A lot evidentally.

Took Texas in Survivor figuring Hamilton would take part in the massacre of Bucs. But they are doing it without him.
From Texas Ranger web site:

ARLINGTON — Rangers manager Ron Washington elected to rest outfielder Josh Hamilton on Wednesday against the Pirates, despite his recent tear at the plate.
Hamilton is riding a career-high 17-game hitting streak and is hitting .485 (33-68) with eight home runs and 24 RBIs over that span. It’s the longest streak by a Rangers player since Michael Young’s 18-game streak from August 13-31 last season.

“He’s human,” Washington said. “He deserves a day off. He got it. We’ve been winning without everyone else in that lineup so we’ll have to do it without Josh in that lineup.”

Washington said Hamilton needed a day off but insisted it had nothing to do with the knee soreness that forced him to rest earlier in the month.

@btsplayer: It was a solid hit thru the infield, watching the game on tv.
With Jeter & Cano 0-fer so far, will they get hits on their last AB? Will the game go to extra innings? Prado needs some base runners to come up 1 more time. Though Ichiro & Ibanez both got hits, the other 0-fers may take out quite a few.
My guess for leader’s pick tomorrow: Prado, Pujols or Braun

@lavolpe: I don’t eve care about those guys. People behind the top 2 are way behind anyway.

Darn Wells. He is another pitcher who should be sent back down to minor leagues. He had a good run last year but his experiment this year is over. The Cubs keep thinking he will get better but he keeps on sucking start after start. He loves those blow out big innings to give more grey hairs on Pinella’s head.

@btsplayer: “I don’t eve care about those guys. People behind the top 2 are way behind anyway.”
I do. dick.george just joined the 40-club consisting of 20 people that have been there before and haven’t won. If he wins it, so be it. If not, the ones behind have as good of a chance. So while d.g is making the run, any of his close opponents that fall are a plus IMO.

“If he wins it, so be it. If not, the ones behind have as good of a chance. So while d.g is making the run, any of his close opponents that fall are a plus IMO.”

What you’re not getting is there will always be certain amount of people there. Its not gonna change. That is how the probability works. Some will die and some will move on. Over a length of time, about 20% of streakers will fall everyday. Its the ones that slip past that trap day after day that you have to worry.
Over the last 3 weeks. Nothing really has changed for the 99.99% of the board. About same amonut of people will be at certain low streaks.

@btsplayer: Oh, I get it. And more than once in our life times, the contest will probably be won. But what you are missing it seems, is that the leader hasn’t won, yet. Odds are against him getting another 17 in a row. And any behind him and ahead of you, me or anyone else must also fall for us to get a chance. That is a very optimistic statement of course.
But worry? Why worry? Spending 20 years in the military I learned early on, do not worry about stuff you have absolutely no control over. What happens, happens. And in this game, the only thing we have control over is who we pick; absolutely nothing else. Simply keep those fingers crossed between now & the All Star Game. If we’re still playing then, d.g & kbarr9 both fell.

Time to focus on the task at hand: Helping each other make better picks. The chatter about the leaders is not helping accomplish this. Remember your chances of winning this game are the same as: Winning $100 million in the lottery and walking outside your house to celebrate your lottery win on a sunny day and having a 747 crash and land on you.

Question: How bad are they Cubs?
Answer: As a huge but realistic Cub fan, I had Seattle on Wed v. Cubs in Survivor.

Thurs:
TX – Young in BTS
HR – BTS – Guerrero v. Karstens of Pitt
TX in Survivor – Feldman has been doing well for TX
Hoping for a TX “Hat Trick”
New blog term: Let’s go with “hat trick” on a day when you have a HR pick, BTS hit and Survivor win.

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